War keeps terrorists out of America

Enough with the "Bush lied, people died" rhetoric already. Critics of the war offer nothing in ensuring the safety of all Americans and a plausible resolution to the current conflict. I'm sorry but running away from a fight is not the right answer. Imagine if FDR ordered Eisenhower to end the invasion of France because too many troops were dying.

Soldiers are soldiers for a reason. When I was in the Army I accepted the responsibility to serve and protect the Constitution and the interests of the country. Seven months in Afghanistan gave me that opportunity. Keeping the fight where the terrorists are makes more sense than fighting them on our soil.

Ian Gomez
Waipahu

Contraflow lanes could be shorter

I guess one will not know how dreadful it was to be in Hawaii's biggest traffic jam unless you were part of it. While in the traffic jam last week near the airport, I timed myself going 0.2 mph (three hours from Honolulu International Airport to Mililani). I was thinking about how this mess could have been solved. The following idea should have been used but was not, and now should be considered when crews replace the damaged walkway.

Instead of contraflow lanes from the stadium to Pearl City, can the highway department just contraflow two lanes around the damaged area, like 50 feet on either side of the damaged area during nonpeak hours? The Zipper and middle barriers are portable and can be removed as required. The Zipper barrier removed can be used to separate the contraflow lanes.

Jimbo Miura
Mililani

Voters turned off by Case's stand on war

Dan Akaka's appeal is his warmth and heart. Ed Case is attractive to educated voters who feel more comfortable with his grasp of facts and ability to communicate. But Case's continued support for the foolish Iraq war turns away voters like myself. It is astounding that our leaders do not understand their over-reactive, bullying stance is counter-productive, creates even more enemies, only compounding the terrorist threat.

Bill Pfeil
Kaunakakai, Molokai

Case doesn't blindly follow party politics

I applaud and thank Sen. Dan Akaka and his family for the years of committed service and sacrifice for the state of Hawaii. His opponent in the upcoming primary election, though, might represent the future for our state. Ed Case seems intelligent, articulate and has many years in public service. His more moderate voting record shows he is no lemming to party politics and can think for himself. A Case victory would mean that two people with Hawaii ties (Case and Barack Obama) would be viable candidates for president/vice-president in the not-so-distant future.

The Honorable Sen. Dan Inouye's current term ends in 2011. Coincidentally, that's when Gov. Linda Lingle's term comes to a close. If Inouye chooses to retire, it could be Lingle vs. Abercrombie in 2010. I can hardly wait!

Norio Hataye
Kaneohe

Bus hopes to improve traffic jam operations

Last week's freeway incident created havoc for many travelers, including those on TheBus. We apologize to all bus riders who were inconvenienced. While our operations staff tried to make sure everyone got home safely and many bus drivers worked several hours overtime to do that, we were worry to see the problems Tim Haverly's wife (Letters, Sept. 8) had trying to get home that evening.

Using the GPS equipment on our buses, we were able to replay what happened. The Route 83 bus she caught from downtown left the Alapai Express Lot at 3:40 p.m. Unfortunately, that bus was caught in the worst possible place by the developing traffic jam and didn't get to Wahiawa until 9:29 p.m. The Route 83 continuing to Waialua left downtown at 4:25 p.m. The bus was instructed to detour off the freeway sooner and actually arrived in Wahiawa before the first bus at 8:55 p.m. So did the next bus to Waialua. Once the buses got to Central Oahu they all followed their normal routes. Unfortunately, both buses to Waialua had gone through Wahiawa before Ms. Haverly's bus got there.

We did learn some valuable lessons from this incident and, as Mr. Haverly suggests, we will consider ways to continue to provide information to our riders past the normal closing time of TheBus information office when we have major active disruptions still occurring.

How to write us

The Star-Bulletin welcomes letters that are crisp and to the point (~175 words). The Star-Bulletin reserves the right to edit letters for clarity and length. Please direct comments to the issues; personal attacks will not be published. Letters must be signed and include a daytime telephone number.